This is the Daystrom Institute Episode Analysis thread for Lower Decks 4x06 Parth Ferengi’s Heart Place.
Now that we’ve had a few days to digest the content of the latest episode, this thread is a place to dig a little deeper.
I really enjoy how lower decks makes the events on screen absurd in a way that fits the vibe of an adult animated scifi series but manages to make it still feel like LD is in the same universe as other star trek shows that are superficially very different in tone, genre and pacing. In the crossover episode Captain Pike finds Boimler and Mariner annoying (they act like cartoon characters… because they are) but ultimately Pike is pretty seriously charmed through an immediate recognition that what these annoying time travellers value about starfleet/the federation is the same thing he does. It is things like this that ground LD in the rest of the universe and make it not feel like a superfluous side gimmick.
This week’s episode is a great example, the ferengi joining the federation (from my as of yet incomplete star trek watching experience, I havent finished DS9) is actually a pretty massive expansion of star trek canon to hand out to the animated spinoff show. To me, as a fan of star trek less for what happens in any one particular moment and more for the broader constellation of stories in a shared universe, I had high expectations for what the final negotiation process was going to be like with the ferengi.
I thought they nailed it, the ferengi acted like cartoon versions of themselves by trying to swindle them, but ultimately it came not from an unrealistic supervillian type place but rather a place of ferengi’s not wanting to enter into a serious alliance that makes them vulnerable with an organization that can easily be swindled by others (which would probably be considered a serious moral failing by ferengi) … it is a cultural thing to them and the final test was looking for a recognition of that which I think is a perfect way to allow a lot of silly fun while also making the choices feel like real people were making them. It also echoes the SNW episode where Pike realizes how to be genuine with an alien species in order to convince them to join the federation, and I don’t think I will ever get tired of those episodes as they get to the heart of what star trek is about.
It seems very Ferengi to have a museum gift shop with museum coming soon.
I wonder how binding Freeman’s contract with Rom was. Say, in the Disco era… Ferenginar brings Kronos into the Federation. What will unfurl?
You could, of course, argue that Freeman’s contract was invalid when Rom called for the original papers… but rule of acquisition 239: “Never be afraid to mislabel a product.” would suggest that the validity is a mere minor detail.
In the end a contract is only as valid as the enforcement behind it.
Between two people of the same nation, a court willing to say “Yeah that’s valid” and enforce it with the power of the state makes a contract quite powerful.
Between two entities that cannot agree on a means to arbitration, or have that means enforced on them, it’s basically only as valuable as their willingness to accept it.
“A contract is a contract is a contract… but only between Ferengi” might seem like a straight up dismissal of another’s species rights to be negotiated with, but its also a warning. If the Ferengi authorities don’t have the power and will to enforce your contract with a Klingon living in free space, then a contract lacks the enforcement clauses that make it absolute.
So how binding is it? As binding as the parties allow it to be.
